Surgery

Hi All,

We had a visit from the cousins and sister again today.  Olivia and Audrey played candy land with Meara.  Ainsley is learning that she can't get into everything.  She isn't happy about it!  She's got a pretty narly teething situation going on so poor Aunt Mindy is being put to the task.  Thanks Aunt Mindy for taking such good care of Ainsley for us.  We know it is a lot of work.  It is worth it.  You are helping us a great deal.  Olivia and Audrey head home tomorrow.  We'll be praying for safe travels and a healthy start to the school year for the girls.

Meara had a visit from another dog named "Ollie".  This one was a girl and is a golden retriever/lab mix.  In fact, she came from Canine Assistance in Georgia, which is the same organization that provided "Quincy" (service dog) to my brother Ben. Small world.

Well, lots of details but I think it's better if I talk big picture.  The doctors finished the motor mapping today.  The good news is that loss of function may be limited to the face, tongue, and jaw.  Some of that can be recoverable over time with rehabilitation.  She won't get it all back but hopefully most of it.  That's the good news.  At one point they talked about the hand (which isn't as recoverable) so it is great news that they will be able to avoid that area.

So, for the hard news.  The area were they are resecting is in a difficult spot.  There are veins and blood vessels that criss cross in the area.  Simply put, it is an extremely delicate area to go into.  The surgeon came early this evening and explained that if something happened with the blood vessels then we are talking about more than the function listed above.  He also explained that there is higher probability of her losing some vision because of where they are going in the temporal lobe.  He also let us know that there is a possibility that this surgery will have not gotten everything simply because they are only able to map where the grids are on the brain and that some activity may be outside of that area. 

The Neurologists have been very clear with us that although they were able to avoid a lot of motor function with the resection area that the surgery itself (the location of the resection) is a lot trickier than the average resection and has higher risk.  The surgeon has done these particular resections before.  Please please please pray that he will be well rested, of sharp mind, and make the very best decisions as he performs the surgery on our daughter.

Here is what I know:  I'm not in control and we have to have faith.  We have each other.  We have the very best surgeon working on her.  And we have your prayers and support.  That being said, Thursday can't come soon enough.

The surgery is at 2:30pm tomorrow.  It will be a long surgery due to the complexity of the area they are working in.  It will most likely run into the evening.  We will spend 1-3 nights in the ICU and after that begin rehabilitation and therapy.

I will do my best to update daily on the blog.  I will probably post during the surgery to focus my thoughts on positive things and to unleash what our hearts are taking on.  One way I cope with stress is to write…

I know that we have said this repeatedly but we want to tell everyone again that we are so grateful for your love.  We are grateful for your prayers and positive thoughts.  We are grateful for our daughter and this journey which is helping us as a family to be stronger.  We are grateful that this journey has helped us be grounded, placing importance on the right things and letting go of other things that just don't really matter.

We love you, we appreciate you.

Love, Peace, and Gratitude,

Aaron & Megan